Investigation on Pulverized Coal Control Using Calcium Sulfoaluminate Cementitious Proppants in Coalbed Methane Fracturing

[Image: see text] Coalbed methane is a type of high-quality clean energy. The development of coalbed methane helps protect the living environment of humans and solves the safety problems in coal mining. However, a large amount of pulverized coal is generated after coalbed methane fracturing, which reduces the production of coalbed methane. Reduction of pulverized coal generation and prevention of pulverized coal migration are important for the development of coalbed methane. This study innovatively mixed calcium sulfoaluminate particles and sand to create a new fracturing proppant. The new proppant was carried by the fracturing fluid into the formation cracks and cured to form a permeable cement stone with a certain compressive strength and permeability at formation temperature and pressure. The permeability and compressive strength of the permeable cement stone were measured at different curing temperatures. Results showed that when the compressive strength of the permeable cement stone was 5.46 MPa, the gas and water permeabilities could reach 2.06 and 0.57 D, respectively. The pore diameter distribution was measured with the semi-permeable diaphragm method. The distribution curve was bimodal, and the range of the variation in pore size was 0.6–300 μm. Blocked pulverized coal size was determined using the seepage theory of particles in porous media and verified through a pulverized coal control experiment. Pulverized coal with a diameter larger than 7.67 μm was blocked by the permeable cement stone. The efficiency of the permeable cement stone in controlling pulverized coal could reach 96%. This study proved that calcium sulfoaluminate cementitious proppants can fix pulverized coal and prevent its migration. It also provided the compressive strength of propping fractures and the high permeability needed for drainage under formation conditions.